Hyderabad: The Telangana Senior Resident Doctors Association (TSRDA) has decided to go on a strike from Monday if the government fails to clear their unpaid stipends and salaries. As many as 698 senior resident doctors will boycott emergency and elective services in all medical colleges across the state, association president Dr M Rajeev said.
Doctors from a college in Mahabubnagar have started protests in support of their demand for release of stipends and salaries, Dr Rajeev told ABP Live, adding that senior residents will go on strike boycotting all the services in all the medical colleges if the demands are not met. "The resident doctors in Mahabubnagar are facing tough time as they haven't got the salaries or stipends for nearly eight months now. They have been protesting but we will boycott the services from Monday if the demands are not met," said Dr Rajeev, a pulmonologist at Osmania Medical College and Hospital in Hyderabad.
Here are details of the pending salaries in all colleges across the state:
The doctors had been reportedly promised a salary of Rs 80,500 per month at the time of joining. "We completed our post-graduation in April 2021. With the country struck with the second wave of Covid pandemic, the government instructed us to serve in the hospitals till August 15. For three months, the doctors received the stipend, except for the month of May," said the 30-year-old pulmonologist.
Asked how the authorities have responded to their demands, he said: "The government has said that there is no budget."
The TSRDA wrote to Health Minister T Harish Rao Tuesday, requesting to release the pending salaries to the senior residents. "Senior residents are giving services in our respective hospitals or medical colleges where we are not provided with any accommodation, travel service, basic facilities. Many of our senior residents are married and need to look after their families," TSRDA said in the letter. "SRs from some colleges were not given salaries since we joined in November 2021 and the remaining SRs are not paid salaries for their services for the last three months."